Playing With Fire
by Wafflegirl0304
Summary: Now this all began with a fire in the dead of night. How shocked she was when they told her that she had to fight! This boy who's like a ticking bomb, he can't be that bad, right? Too late did they find the darkness in the man of light. REWRITE OF TIME WILL TELL.
1. One

**YOOOOOOOOO GUYS**

**Thanks for taking the time to open up this story of mine. Some of you may have known my previous story, Time Will Tell. It was...bad. So this is a re-write! Hopefully, it will be okay. I'm super excited to get this story started so here you are! :D**

**Im planning to average each chapter about 2000-3000 words now, so hopefully nothing's too short too. Okay? Okay. Anyway hope y'all enjoy!**

* * *

Kai honestly didn't see the point of this mission.

Here he was, cruising aimlessly down the streets, searching for a face he wouldn't even recognise. The streets were barren and lifeless. He hadn't ever been out this early in Ninjago City before. Of course, there were a few hurried businessmen in dark suits with briefcases, but none of them so much as looked at him, a boy dressed in red with nothing but a katana on his back. The sky above him was a navy blue starless abyss, streaked with chilly early morning wind. Kai didn't really mind though, being the ninja of fire. It wasn't that he was cold and complaining.

Kai was just a person who didn't enjoy wasting time.

He admired and loved Sensei Wu, but sometimes his teacher seemed too much. He didn't understand how they were gonna do this. Find a grey ninja, the ninja of time. A dumb colour and a weird element. Okay, maybe not so weird, but dangerous. Who even controlled time? Wouldn't that be like, God or something? Kai wondered if this was the right thing to do. As much as he thought a time ninja could do, they didn't need one. They hadn't needed one to do the Tornado of Creation, or one to be able to fight off the Serpentine and get the Fangblades. They didn't need one now. Even though Garmadon did have the Mega Weapon and was trying to kill them, it was nothing they couldn't handle.

His nose twitched, and he stopped.

He could smell it all too well. The fire, licking at wood, eating away at the material with the hunger of a thousand ravenous dogs. He could hear it crackling softly, that satisfying sound of a barbecue pit cooking sausages or whatever your heart desired. As a kid Kai had loved to play with every match they had and burnt things down whenever possible. He'd accidentally set his schoolbooks on fire and nearly destroyed his father's shop once. He'd never forget that.

Kai ran in its direction. It was six in the morning. Fires shouldn't start this early.

_He_ didn't even start this early.

All of the buildings coming into his line of sight looked the same, rather tall, some semi-detached houses here and there, various restaurants and a McDonald's. But the fire was further than all of this. Kai realised its smell had begun to change. It didn't seem like regular burning wood, the flames laughing louder now, smokey and hot. It had an almost sour smell, like something had gone bad was thrown into the fire, maybe? Kai didn't really know.

He felt the heat envelope him and he stopped, the soles of his boots tap dancing on the sidewalk. He raised his eyes and took in the sight of the burning house. The fire was bright orange and flickering, huge, just like any other normal fire. Burning like a gigantic fireplace. The sourness swelled, not enough to be overpowering, but it was there. He hoped he wasn't the only one smelling this.

He shook his head and ran towards the oddly silent house before stopping again. There wasn't really much he could do as a fire-wielder, or as a person. He glanced around, hoping to hear a siren of some sort. He could hear people yelling from the buildings opposite, yelling at him to do something. Kai looked back at the house.

_What am I, a fireman?_

He heard screaming. It was like a little kid's tantrum, only more panicked and afraid. Kai didn't wait any longer. He bolted forward and kicked the door down with a vigorous swing, the wood crumpling inwards. The fire spread. Oops. But Kai was not afraid. He ploughed forward, the smoke temporarily blinding him. So he dropped to all fours and crawled. The fire danced around him, breathing on his face and body. The rancid smell was nearly enough to make him sick.

The scream-crying didn't cease instead mixing in with some coughing. "Get down!" Kai yelled to whoever could hear, and nearly choked on the smoke himself. He found the dining room (or was it the kitchen?), but the fire didn't seem to be coming from there, and there wasn't anyone around.

"Over here!" A man's voice yelled now, rather deep but surprisingly calm. Kai stood up and ran down the hall, relying on his hood to help his breathing. Over _where_, exactly? The stairs leading upwards before him meant there was a second floor, were they all there? Or were the victims behind these closed doors, a puzzle he had no time to solve? Kai could have cried out in frustration. He was about to kick down another door when the laughter of the fire seemed to vanish into shrieks of pain as it died away.

A sudden chill swept over the house. Kai saw ice climbing over the walls, putting out the flames with speed. He smiled. Zane had definitely arrived. The cold crystal silenced the fire, which went out with a fizzy shrieking sound, but the pungent odour remained. Kai decided to call again, now that the smoke was clearing up. "Where are you?"

Kai got a kid's crying in response, and followed the sound to find them. They had been sitting just around the corner, huddled up against each other. A family of three. A man, a girl and a little boy. The man was calmly trying to quiet down the small boy as he came towards Kai. Kai noticed how his shoulders jerked, dark pupils dilating, the sweat trickling down his temple (or maybe that was from the fire) the moment their gazes locked. The man blinked, looked away from Kai and rubbed the wailing boy's back.

"I...I am very sorry. Thank you for rescuing us,"

He had an odd accent Kai couldn't place. _I didn't do anything but break down your door, really,_ Kai said inwardly, but out loud he said, "Thank Zane later. Right now, let's get you guys out."

The outside provided cool relief to his lungs and eyes. There was a huge, red fire engine parked outside, along with an ambulance. The yellow-clad men looked bewildered, holding a thick, long water hose. Shiny drops of water clung to the golden rim around the end. Kai's gaze found the rest of his team standing outside, obviously drawn to the commotion. He glanced back to the family. The man was now cradling the smaller boy, who had gone silent, and was speaking to a policeman.

Then he saw her.

She was around his age, if not younger. Her hair was short, maybe around Cole's length, yet you could tell she was a girl. It was the colour of watered-down coffee. She wasn't that skinny, but had more than enough meat to look healthy. She was shivering in the cold and not looking towards him, but standing close to her father.

Kai hated that his first thought was to go warm her up.

He took his eyes away and focused on the other task he had at hand. The fire's weird smell made him ready to hurl, and he hadn't even eaten breakfast yet. There had to be some reason for the difference. Kai wouldn't just let this go.

"Hey, Kai, the next time you decide to go running into burning buildings, give us a heads-up, wouldja?" Cole's voice invaded his thoughts, accompanied by a meant-to-be-playful smack on the back. You could tell it was Cole's, because it was a lot harder than a regular slap, and you could feel that Cole himself didn't even know he hit this hard. Kai felt the air fleeing his body and nearly suffocated on nothing, after having just cleared his body of toxic fumes.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I have something important to tell you guys," Kai said, stealing another glance at the girl from the corner of his eye. She was watching her baby brother get tended to in the ambulance, a dark silhouette against the too-white interior. Kai returned his attention to his brothers' faces, minus Lloyd. Lucky brat was still sleeping in the Bounty.

"What is it?" Jay asked with a yawn. Kai told them.

"The firemen tried to put the fire out earlier, but their hose was no use," Zane stated. "I was only able to extinguish the flames with my ice."

"We should check around for any other possible sources of the fire we might have missed out on," Cole said, and it automatically became an order. But Kai was actually interested in this, and he knew he wouldn't be able to do much else but think about it for the rest of the day.

He watched Zane get stopped by some official-looking guys in policeman suits, Jay busy himself with the base around the house, and Cole scanning the area from afar. That left only one option.

He walked over to the girl, pulling her back to face him. He felt her nearly jump out of her skin at his touch, her head snapping back. Her eyes were like shiny steel marbles, widening as they seemed to crawl over his face, studying it in a momentary fit of fright. Her face wasn't that skinny, but it was just jawline, not fat.

Silver. _Grey_.

"Oh! Uh, I'm sorry...did you want to—" Her voice had the accent too, but it was less in-the-way than her father's (they looked too similiar to be anything but).

"Yeah, I need to ask you something," Kai cut to the chase to shorten the awkwardness, telling himself he didn't care about the heightened unease in her tone. "Do you know where the fire came from? Anything at all?"

Her body relaxed by not much. Her gaze flickered towards her house. The concrete walls were blackened with soot and wet with melted ice. "Yes, um, I think it was somewhere near the back...near my—I mean, the bedroom,"

"Thanks," the fire ninja said and hurried off. He ran towards the house and down the side of it, rounding to the back. The astringent smell infiltrated his nostrils and he felt his breathing go short. There was still smoke around here.

He slowed down and saw it.

The sticks on the ground, roasted to hot, hard pieces of burnt, blackened things. The pile had a neat circle of mud around it where the grass had given in to the flames and gone up in smoke. He bent down on one knee and clapped his hands over his nose and mouth, the odour threatening to dig his insides out. Kai's intent stare picked up lflaky objects about the size of dollar coins among the sticks, but he really didn't know what they were, and he couldn't exactly think right now.

The not-burnt grass rustled under boot soles. "You found something?" Jay sounded astonished. "I swear that wasn't there before,"

"You probably missed it," Kai felt a smug grin lift the corners of his mouth.

Jay ignored that muffled comment and began to squat down, but immediately sprang back up, his hands flying to his face. "Eww! That's disgusting,"

Thanks, Captain Obvious. Kai straightened. "Yeah, I know. If that fire wasn't an ordinary fire, then what kind was it? Why can't it be put out with just water?"

"Who knows?" shrugged Jay. "Why do you suddenly care so much?"

Kai hesitated. Maybe it was the fact that he was still slightly out of it from waking up only moments earlier, and his brain was still in that midnight 'question the universe' mode he got into sometimes when he couldn't sleep.

Or maybe it was something else.

"Don't know," he replied and glanced down at the sooty burnt mess. "What do we do with this, then?"

"I suggest we take it back to Sensei Wu." Zane said suddenly, seeming to materialise beside them. Kai jumped a little at the sound of his cool voice.

"I'm not touching that stuff," said Jay.

Without any argument, Zane flipped his arm panel open and flicked a switch before picking up a couple of the sticks and returning to the front of the house.

Jay stared after him, a little stunned. "Huh. Funny I didn't think of that."

The two ninja followed their icy friend to the front of the house, where Cole was waiting. "We still haven't found that ninja," their leader reminded them. "We need to keep looking."

Jay groaned. "We've been out here for hours—"

"It has only been thirty-four minutes," Zane interjected.

"—whatever, and I'm starving. What if the ninja doesn't even want to come with us? What if the ninja isn't even here, and is somewhere in the desert or something, and we'll be stuck here forever!"

"Sensei wouldn't tell us to search Ninjago City if he knew the ninja wasn't here," Cole reasoned gruffly, raking his hand through his wavy black locks. "We'll meet back at the heart of Ninjago City in another half hour."

Kai looked back at the girl, who was still just standing around, hanging back. She wore nothing but dinky slippers, a pair of bermudas and a loose, long-sleeved shirt. She looked nothing like a warrior. Could _she_ be the ninja? Who was their biggest enemy right now? Garmadon, who'd taken their Golden Weapons away. Garmadon, who'd taken the Black Bounty. Garmadon, who could have actually been their Sensei, training them, but instead the ninja were training to go against him. Had he started this fire? Maybe Garmadon knew something about the prophecy or whatever it was that this time ninja was involved in. This fire wasn't an accident.

He watched his teammates take off, Jay grumbling to himself under his hood, Zane quiet and stoic as usual, and Cole glancing back at Kai.

"Aren't you going, Kai?"

Kai's hunches were never right, anyway.

"I'm going, I'm going."

**Feedback would be appreciated and stuff so...yep. See you guys next time.**


	2. Two

**hey guys, thanks for the nice reviews. uwu I know nobody cares about OCxCanon but a writer has to have some fun too, right? ^^ (not that I don't have fun with my other stories.)**

**Anyway, if you've read up to here, good job.**

**enjoy!**

Zane stopped walking.

His sixth sense tingled at the back of his mind, gentle waves lapping his ankles. Something that let him know it was there without being too overbearing, and yet, nagged at him that his clothes were getting wet. Of course he knew it wasn't always this amiable, sometimes it was more like a tsunami wave that rose high, high above his head and crashed down all at once.

He looked down at the sticks in his hand, the burnt bark coming off in tiny black particles onto his sleeves and gloves. There were indeed thin, small flaky objects of no identifiable shape, clinging to the blackened, sooty wood. The pungent smell that Kai and Jay had reportedly picked up had been blocked off by a simple flick of his switch—being a nindroid had come with many perks, he found. However, that often left him with the jobs his brothers seemed to despise, like chores. But honestly, he didn't take it to heart (not that he had a real one). He enjoyed helping his brothers.

Zane lifted his gaze heavenward. The sky was a silvery blue colour, streaked with light as the sun awoke and rose up over the mountains in the east, a warm blanket being pulled off over the sleepy city. His eyes searched for the bird he had sent earlier as he'd left the dojo—but the black figure was absent from the air. He wondered if the falcon had found the grey ninja, and hoped it had had more luck than himself.

His sixth sense had transformed into a brick wall on the beach, nearly unbreakable, pushing him forward with an unseen force. He walked towards the house, its low roof burnt on one side near the back. The damage wasn't too extensive, he concluded, but it wasn't something that could be ignored or repaired easily. There were still a few police cars and a news van parked near the small establishment. He noticed the girl he'd seen earlier, the sister. She had a microphone held to her mouth by a woman with bright eyes and a head of dark auburn hair pulled up into a high, thick ponytail.

"How was the experience, miss? Heart-racing? Were you afraid?" Gayle Gossip wasted no time in bombarding the girl with questions. She seemed to shrink back, eyes darting about uncertainly.

"Uh, yes, I—of course I was," she said quickly, taking a step back, which only made the news reporter press in deeper.

"Any advice for our viewers today?"

The girl looked lost. "Um—"

"I do not think she wants to answer any more questions," Zane said politely, stepping in between Gayle and the girl. He offered a sincere smile. "Being in a house fire can be very traumatising and I do not think she is in a fit state to bring you news. Perhaps you ought to try again some other time?"

The large camera aimed its large, shiny eye at him, while Gayle looked a little taken aback. "Traumatising? Oh yes—yes, of course! Where are my manners? Terribly sorry, miss!" She turned to Zane, who realised he did not exactly enjoy this woman's company. "Would you like to offer some advice to the public then, Mr. Ninja?"

Zane processed the request. In a split second, he had listed down more than a few hundred ways fires could start, the intensity and damage of each and how it affected people. However, he realised the public wouldn't appreciate this very much, and he was not one for talking a lot anyway. That was Jay's job.

"Soot and ash are very dangerous for a human's lungs," he said finally.

"Thank you!" Gayle chirped and she and her cameraman moved past them. The ice ninja turned to look at the girl, who still looked rather confused.

"You-You're the ninja who always save the city, right?" she asked.

"One of them," Zane nodded curtly, gesturing to the house. "Are you planning to go back inside?" he asked. "What I said earlier was true. It would be hazardous to your health to return."

She shifted her weight, not looking at him. "I don't exactly have anywhere else to go," she said, a little embarrassed.

"Do you not have relatives?" Zane remembered the ambulance driving away with her father and the baby on board. It was strange that they would leave her here alone in a house that was in no state to be lived in.

"Well, they're not really here..."

He was about to ask her what she meant by that (deceased, missing, not in this part of Ninjago?) when the familiar cawing of a bird rung clear and true in the sky above. Both of them lifted their eyes to see a small, black figure swoop into view, increase in size and come to a neat landing on Zane's outstretched arm. The girl's mouth rounded in shock and disbelief. He felt almost proud, looking into the falcon's bright yellow eyes. It cawed again, a loud, awesome sound.

And then Zane realised there was only one reason the falcon would be here. He locked gazes with her as the sun rose above them. Hers was pretty much utterly confused.

"Rather than stay in a damaged house, how about you come with me?"

* * *

Grand Sensei Dareth's Mojo Dojo was a small one-storey establishment on the corner just down the street, not far from where the house was. There was a room tucked away at the far end of the corridor, small and quiet.

Inside, an elderly man sat with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, palms pressed lightly against each other. The smoke that rose from the thin bundle of sticks touched his wise mind and his ageing senses, blooming figures and pictures in them. He watched his students, sporting their colourful attire, wielding their elements with grace. Kai's was rough and wild, but when his fire did strike, it struck hard. Jay's was swift and came in thin, electrified streaks, confident and rather uncontrollable. Cole's came in vicious cracks in the earth, a deep rumble the old man actually felt in the floor, steady and powerful. Zane's was a flicked whip of ice, frosty white and transparent, fragile but at the same time like a laser.

And Lloyd's element came as a mixture of all, a pure green, sparkling mass of energy and life, stringing Fire, Lightning, Earth and Ice together in a firm band of creation. Their colours swirled about each other in blissful harmony. He watched them encircle a smaller, glowing mass of smaller elements; Sound and Darkness, Light and Water. And many, many others.

And around this band was an outer band encompassing all, with only two visible elements interlocked largely.

Time and Space.

These elements were especially large, hard to control, hard to master. If abused, Ninjago could fall into chaos, more ruin than his brother Garmadon could ever create. Dangerous, not in the usual tangible form. These elements were special because the human eye couldn't exactly see them.

Made it kind of difficult to dodge, you know.

Their voices reached his ears before their feet reached his door. Sensei Wu opened his eyes and put his hands down as his students came bustling into the room, minus the tiny blond-haired boy who he called his nephew. The boys were talking all at once, fighting to be heard above each other. Wu sighed.

"Are you all quite finished?" he asked, silencing the room with these five words.

Four—no, five pairs of eyes turned towards him, one pair alien to him and the other four all too familiar. Their possessors quickly arranged themselves around him and the pot of thin sticks. As one swift motion each of them pulled back their hoods, revealing heads of damp and slightly smelly hair.

Wu looked straight into the newcomer's eyes, immediately catching their silver glow, a little dulled, but bright nonetheless. From beside them, Cole cleared his throat, deciding to start sounding official. "Sensei Wu, we have found the—"

"Grey ninja. I can see that," the old teacher said calmly. "A fine young woman,"

"Uh, one problem, Sensei. She's a girl. Girls can't become ninja," Jay protested from the sidelines.

"Who says?"

"Well, it never happens in comic books and TV shows, the warriors are all guys—OW!"

Kai withdrew his hand. "But Sensei, he does have a point. I mean, uh, no offence to you"—his gaze swivelled from his teacher to the girl—"but I doubt that you can handle the training. Being a ninja is hard work."

Wu shook his head. "You four have much to learn. One's gender does not define their strengths or power." he stated. The ninja's eyes told him they knew he was being dead serious.

And that they ought to cease all talk right now.

"Now then, I don't think I've been properly acquainted with you, young girl. Who exactly are you?"

Her eyes had hardened underneath their glistening pools of liquid iron. He saw her neck move as she swallowed dryly, trying to dig up an answer to the man's question. She already felt their eyes on her, drilling holes into her heart and yet moving it to beat faster and faster.

"...I am Naoko Akita," she whispered. "I—"

"I beg your pardon?" Wu interrupted gently, a cue for her to speak up. She took a quick breath.

"Naoko," she said, louder. "a now homeless, sixteen-year-old. I have just finished school at Ninjago High last year and I live with my dad and little brother." Naoko dipped her head. "Um...I-I'm honoured that you guys came to my house and all—but I don't think I'm up to joining your team."

"Oh? Why would you think that way?" Wu smiled.

Naoko stiffened even more, if she could have. "I'm not...special or anything."

The old man snorted, like he could have laughed out loud right there.

"It seems you too, have much to learn."

Over ten years of school, and I still have much to... She let the old man's words sink in. Her heart was pounding away relentlessly, forcing the movements down to her stomach and churning up the nothing she hadn't eaten for breakfast. She fingered her sleeve.

"I do?"

"Good choice," the man stood up, pulling up a stick from the floor as he did. Naoko hadn't noticed it prior to this, and she was as confused as she was frustrated and awed. The bamboo rapped on the wooden floor as the man made his way to a closet in the back. The doors swung open noisily.

"But, um, I didn't say—"

The blue ninja laughed then, a tried-to-suppress-but-failed chuckle. She let her gaze shift to his form—a brown-redhead with a stupid grin, slanted shoulders and shockingly bright emerald eyes. He shot her a bemused look.

"You just got I do-ed, man."

The other boys followed with their own tiny spurts of laughter. Naoko felt her face burn up, as it had many times today already. She really wasn't used to people laughing at her. Badmouthing her was one, but finding her something of amusement?

Another thing she would have to get used to—just like everything else.

She returned her gaze to the bearded man—sorry, Sensei Wu—as he dropped a bundle in front of her knees. Definitely something metal was concealed underneath the rough sack. With trembling hands she reached to the string uniting the corners of the cloth and gently pulled them apart.

She gasped.

Light from the ceiling splashed onto the two silver, spotless blades lying crossed over each other. Their handles were made of ridged, black rubber, the end morphing into a small diamond. The tiny tip looked like it could cut through a lot of things that should not be cut through.

"Wow," Naoko whispered, picking up one of them. The _ssshhhhh_ noise that sliced through the silence of the room was surprisingly satisfying to her, making her heart shiver. The ninja breathed audibly, their vision now focused on the new weapons.

_Her_ new weapons.

She pulled up the cloth underneath them, two pieces of smooth, grey material with a black leather belt curled alongside two black gloves. It was splendorous, to say the least. To her, who the only weapon ever encountered were harsh words and threats.

"These are your boots," Wu said suddenly. Naoko reached up and caught two weird-looking boots, seemingly just inches from her face.

"Huh?"

"Go and change quickly. Training begins at seven fifteen."

The blue ninja opened his mouth as if to say something, but decided against it. He sighed and rubbed his face as the old man shut the door behind him. "Well, there goes all plans of sleeping in till nine."

"Hey, we're ninja," the black-haired boy beside her replied, lying down on the floor and pulling his legs out from underneath him so his knees pointed to the sky. Naoko noticed he was deftly toned, more muscular than the redhead. He folded his arms under his head. "We're supposed to get up at dawn. Consider yourself lucky."

"Yeah well, the damn sun hasn't even risen—"

"Quit it," the red guy muttered, and looked straight at her. She remembered him as the person who had asked her where the fire had come from. Now with their hoods off, his hair radiated off his head in brown, intentionally gelled-up spikes. And his eyes were a firm hazel, his gaze sharp and hard.

Just as she was starting to feel intimidated, he smiled—something small but bursting with confidence. It absolutely screamed 'cocky', from all her past experiences. But it wasn't an I'm-going-to-beat-you-up kind of look, instead having more of a friendly Hey-jerk look.

It was simply just a smirk, but it made her heart stop for a few seconds. Then her face blew up in red smoke again, and she wished she could have buried herself under her new, factory-smelling ninja suit.

"So, Naoko. You gonna get changed or what?"


End file.
